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Post #1392310

Author
TriggeredPuppy
Parent topic
Blade Runner 2049 the Joi-less edit (I removed Joi entirely to trim the run-time) (Released)
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1392310/action/topic#1392310
Date created
10-Dec-2020, 1:18 PM

Hey fellow fan edit appreciators! I had such an enthusiastic response to my last couple Star Wars edits and this time I’m trying something different.

Blade Runner 2049 is an absolutely gorgeous movie and a worthy follow up to the original. But it’s also significantly longer. As a sort of thought experiment, I wanted to make a tighter version. The solution I came up with is to completely remove Joi (which it really does in the figurative and literal sense).

That’s kind of it. It trims over 20 minutes from the film and makes for a more nihilistic sort of movie. The audience has to infer a lot more of K’s motivations and his existence becomes solely about his work and unraveling the mystery. I did rearrange Mackenzie Davis’s replicant prostitute subplot to immediately follow meeting K. Without Joi instigating, it felt more organic that way.

The only cameo appearance of Ms. de Armas is a single generic Joi advertisement (though not the infamous billboard appearance at the end).

Would love to hear what people think - does it ruin the movie by being too dark and confusing or is the tighter runtime beneficial?